Tool for cleaning and polishing tubing ends and fittings



March 13, 1951 WlTHAM 2,545,329

Too'I. FDR CLEANING AND PoLIsHING TUBING ENDS AND FITTINGS 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Dec. 6, 1948 INVENTOR EON/WD VI//rHA/w ATTORNEY March 13, 1951 WITHAM 2,545,329

TOOL FOR CLEANING AND POLISHING TUBING ENDS AND FITTINGS Filed Deo. 6, 1948. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z l I 3l 73 23 v 5 57` fj 2/ s l Al; f/

mi Z1 INVENTOR fo/wm) l/I//rf/HM V,\BY m v ATTORNE Patented Mar. 13,l 1951 TOOL FOR CLEANING AND POLISHING TUBING ENDS AND FITTINGS Leonard Witham, Oceanside, N. Y.

Application December 6, 1948 Serial No. 63.3723

4 Claims'. .(Cl. 51-148) 1 Y The presentv invention relates to rotary tools, and is particularly concerned with a tool for cleaning and polishing tubing ends and fittings.

An important object of this invention is to provideV a tool for facilitating the preparation of tubing ends and 'plumbing fittings to be sweated together with solder. Heretofore, plumbers have relied principally upon direct manual cleaning operations for this purpose, usually with a strip of ne abrasive cloth or with steel wool. Such an operation is time-consuming, and moreover, the plumbers often lack sufficient thoroughness in thisy manual cleaning to accomplish complete solder sealing of the joints. The external polishing of the tubing ends in this direct manual way is unsatisfactory both as to time consumption and as to results, and the internal cleaning of the ends of the ttings is even less satisfactory.

Acid bath devices have been proposed to alleviate these difficulties in achieving the thoroughly cleaned surfaces required for proper Soldering, but these have proven cumbersome to use and hazardous to body and clothing, to such extent that they have failed to achieve widespread adoption in the trade.

Along with the major object of this invention to provide an efficient and' safe tool for the rapid andv thorough cleaningof tubing and fittings, further objects comprehended arev to make a tool adapted for portability and compactness, and for a choice of' hand-crank or motor drive operation. The way in which this invention meets these objects as well as further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. l is a front elevation of a version of the invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken on the line 2--2 in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional' view of the interior polisher portion of the structure shown in Fig. 1.

The. tool illustrated in these drawings comprises a housing II which normally stands upright as viewed in Fig. l. It is arranged to receive the end of a length of tubing I3 for external polishing, or the end of a` fitting l5 for internal polishing. For convenience in use, especially when hand cranked for cleaning fittings and short lengths of tubing, the tool may be clamped to a, board I1 extending from a table. top, or avise, a clamp I9` being provided for this purpose.

The hand crank 2| with a sliphandle 23 is arranged tooperate in a journal 25 formedV in the housing Il. They crankshaft extends through this journal 25 and has attached to its projecting yend a master gear 21 which is arranged to mesh with threegears 29, 3| and 33 within the housing II.. Gears 29r andy 3| are provided for driving an abrasive belt 35 employed for pol-ishing the exterior end surface `of tubi-ng lengths, e. g. tubing I3, and gear 33 'is provided for impar-ting rotation to thev fitting interior polishing mechanism.

The abrasive belt 35 passes over four pulleys and loops around the end of the tubing I3, its

uncoated fabric surface being in contact withr provided on movable `journal bases 45 and lll.

These bases are iit'ted into keyways 49 and 5l,

and are urged upward by springs 53 andl 55 which act to retain belt 35 under the desiredv tension.

A knurled or splined stub shaft 5l is xed centrallyA to gear 2-'I, for bearing against the external surface of the tubing under treatment, and for cooperating with the abrasive belt to rotate the tubing slowly as it is being polished, for even distribution of the polishing action.

A hardened steel pin 59' of appreciable diametervis xed to a lever 6I pivoted at 53A and arranged for facilitating insertion Vof a tubing end (e. g; tubing I3) to be polished and removal thereof upon completion of the operation. This pin 59 has a taper skirt at its base for contacting the cut inner edge of the tubing and rolling out any-burrsltherefrom.

The lever 6I extends well beyond the pin 5S, and at its end is coupled through a slip link 65, 55 to a scissorslinkage 6l coupled to the movable journal bases 45 and 4l. symmetrical fixed pivots 69 and Il are provided for the arms 'i3 and- 'I5 of the scissors linkage Si, and a pin 'il in one of the arms isar-ranged to cooperate in a slot I9 in the-other to effect concerted movement of them and of the respective journal 'bases l5 and'41.

The slip link 65', 55 comprises two link portions, part having two pins 8l and 85 therein cooperating in a slot in the other part 65'. This arrangement isl provided so that thelever 5I whenV inthe handle-down position for pressing the tubing end in contact with the bu-rred pin 51 is not closely coupled to the journal bases Wand/51, but when the'end of the-'lever 6P is 3 raised to increase the separation of pins 51 and 59 and permit removal or insertion of a tubing end, the lower part 65 of the slip link pulls the upper part B5' downward, in turn causing the bases 45 and 41 to be pulled downward, slackening the abrasive belt.

A xedly positioned toothed sector 81 attached to the casing II and a cooperating toothed pawl 89 supported on the lever 6I and urged toward sector 81 by spring 9| are provided for holding lever 6| in the open or in the working position (i. e., with the right end up or with it down). rightward hook-like extension of the pawl 89V is provided to facilitate withdrawal of the pawl to the right for free movement of the lever 6I as desired.

On the shaft of pinion 33 is provided a disc 93 having two symmetrically located pivots 91 and 99 anchored therein. On these pivotsare provided two L-shaped arms IGI and |03. This assembly of disc 93 and arms IIJI vand |93 is shown more fully in Fig. 3. Each of these arms has a portion parallel to the disc 93 and a portion extending perpendicular thereto, the latter portion being provided with an abrasive convex coating. The ends of the L-shaped arms IIii and |03 oppositeto the abrasive-coated parallel port1ons are pulled by tension springs |05 and |01 toward pins |99 and III anchored in the disc 93. These springs act to urge the abrasive coated parts of the arms outward, to provide pressure thereof against the inner surface of a fitting, e. g. tting I5.

For use of the tool above described, the housing II is clamped to the support l1, and the end of a 1 length of tubing I3 to be soldered or sweated in place is inserted in place for external polishing and internal burr removal. This is accomplished by raising the end of lever 5| and moving the tubing axially onto the pin 53, and thereafter lowering the end of lever 6| to press the tubing end against the knurled central pin 51, the pawl then being released to retain the lever so positioned.

With the lowering of the end of lever 6I, the belt is brought up tight around the end of the tubing by the action of springs 53 and 55. Now the crank 2| is turned, producing revolution of the master gear 21 and simultaneous drive of the belt 35 and the knurled central pin 51. Belt 35 and pin 51 act in opposite torsional directions on the tubing, one tending to revolve it counterclockwise when the other acts to revolve it in the clockwisel direction as viewed in Fig. l. The knurled central pin prevails in determining the direction of rotation of the tubing, causing it to turn slowly in the direction of rotation opposite 4 released and permitted to be urged outward into pressure contact with the inner surface of the fitting end, and the crank 2| is rotated to provide rotation at appreciably greater velocity of the disc 93. Rapid and eifective internal cleaning and polishing of the fitting end is thus achieved,

to that of the crank 2| while the abrasive belt 35 traverses the tubing surface at appreciably greater surface speed. Thus, the relative surface speeds of the tubing and the abrasive belt are v higher than the speed of the belt. Through this and the tting and tubing end are then in readiness to be sweated together with solder.

It will be readily apparent that the master gear 21 may be motor-driven through speed reduction gearing, and that a suitable clutch such as a belt slip clutch may be provided if desired for stopping and starting the mechanism at will without delay for stoppage and acceleration of the motor. It will be further apparent that a tubing end and a female tting end may be polished simultaneously by the operation of this system.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all the matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

l. A tool for rotary cleaning and polishing the exterior surfaces of tubing ends in preparation for a solder seal junction, comprising a base or housing, a shaft journaled therein, a master gear on said shaft, means for imparting rotation to said shaft and gear, a pair of pinions in mesh with said master gear to be driven thereby, a traction pulley on each of said pinions, a pair of idler pulleys, said traction pulleys and said idler pulleys being situated substantially according to a rectangular pattern encompassing said master gear with their axes parallel to said shaft, an abrasive belt passing around the traction pulleys and the idler pulleys and extending inward between said idler pulleys in a, U. passing around said shaft, and a pin supported between said shaft and the bottom of the U of Said belt for receiving the end of a length of tubing and constraining it to be retained between the abrasive surface of the belt and the surface of said shaft, said shaft surface being a frictional surface, and said idler pulleys being movable toward said traction pulleys for accommodating various tubing diameters and being elastically urged away from said traction pulleys to provide pressure against the tubing, whereby rotation of said shaft provides dual friction action of said abrasive belt and said shaft on the tubing.

2. A tool as defined in claim 1, wherein said pin is supported by a pivoted lever arranged to be locked in position restraining said tubing against said shaft.

3. A tool as defined in claim l, wherein said pin is supported by a pivoted lever arranged to be locked in position restraining said tubing against said shaft, said tool further including means comprising linkage between said lever and said idler pulleys for providing intercoupled movement of said pin and said idler pulleys, whereby said lever is enabled to retract said pin and said idler pulleys for simultaneously releasing said tubing from contact with said shaft and loosening said belt.

4. A tool for Vrotary polishing of tubing ends andtting ends, comprising a base or housing, a master gear therein, a plurality of pinions meshed therewith, a plurality of pulleys attached to respective ones of said pinions, an abrasive belt driven .by said pulleys, means for supporting and,

5 revolving the end of a length of tubing in contact with said abrasive belt for exterior cleaning and polishing, a pair of idler pulleys movably supported adjacent said master gear opposite to said attached pulleys, said abrasive belt passing over said idler pulleys and the pulleys on said pinions, said means for supporting and revolving the end of a length of tubing including a pin positioned adjacent said master gear, said belt passing over said idler pulleys and down in a U to wrap substantially one-half around the tubing, and means elastically urging said idler pulleys outward to retain said belt taut.

LEONARD WITHAM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Cowing Apr 14, 1863 Harris Oct. 29, 1878 Young Mar. 31, 1885 Miller et al. Mar. 22, 1904 Herrmann Feb. 14, 1905 Smith May 24, 1910 Vandewater June 4, 1918 Antaramian Aug. 8, 1922 Fulda Aug. 9, 1927 Aurori et al Oct. 4, 1932 Graul Mar. 16, 1937 Ducher Feb. 17, 1942 Shock Dec. 28, 1948 

